1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to dog bowls and other such animal feeding bowls. More particularly, the present invention relates to the structure of dog bowls and the structure of attachments for use with dog bowls that help reduce the amount of food or water an animal splashes out of the bowl when feeding.
2. Prior Art Statement
The prior art is replete with different types of bowls and other containers that can be used to feed a pet dog or another animal that eats at floor level. As most any dog owner would testify, dogs do not exhibit many manners when they eat. Often when a dog eats food from a bowl placed on the floor, the dog's snout displaces food from the bowl and the food falls on the floor. When a dog drinks water from a bowl, the dog's snout is submersed in the water and becomes wet. When the dog lifts its head out of the bowl, the water from the wet snout drips onto the floor. Furthermore, when a dog is either drinking or eating from a bowl, it is not uncommon for the dog to move the bowl along the floor with its snout and tip the bowl, thereby spilling the contents of the bowl onto the floor.
The prior art is replete with different types of specialized bowls and containers that are designed to reduce the amount of spillage that occurs from a dog bowl. One common type of prior art bowl is the weighted feeding bowl. Weighted feeding bowls are bowls that have enlarged, heavy bases. By increasing the size and weight of the base of the bowl, the center of gravity for the bowl is lowered. Therefore, it becomes harder for a dog to accidentally tip the bowl. Such prior art dog bowls are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,361 to Willinger, entitled Non-Skid Pet Bowl.
Although bowls with weighted bases are harder to tip, they do not prevent a dog from displacing food or water out of the bowl with the dog's snout. To prevent dogs from displacing food out of a bowl or splashing water out of a bowl, bowls have been designed with covers that expose only a small portion of the contents of the bowl to the feeding animal. By exposing only a small portion of the food or water in a bowl, the feeding dog does not displace the food with its snout or submerse its snout in the exposed volume of water. Prior art bowls with lids that expose only a portion of the bowl are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,446 to Kightlinger, entitled Animal Food Bowl And Cover Therefore; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,056 to MacLeod, entitled Spill-Resistant Pet Animal Dish.
A problem associated with such limited access bowls is that the feeding animal is not exposed to the full contents of the bowl at once. Consequently, the feeding animal may press its snout as far as possible into the bowl trying to reach food that is stuck in the protected areas of the bowl. This causes the feeding animal to press hard against the bowl, thereby greatly increasing the chances that the bowl will be moved and tipped over by the animal. Another disadvantage of limited access bowls is that food tends to get stuck in the inaccessible regions of the bowl. This food may rot, thereby making the bowl unsanitary to use, even by a dog.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new device that will prevent a pet from spilling food or water out of a bowl without either weighting the bowl or restricting access to the contents of the bowl. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.